Scientists speed up the speed of light?

Treversal

Member
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408
Can scientists speed up the speed of light?

They can slow it down by changing its shape.

BBC:
A team of Scottish scientists has made light travel slower than the speed of light.
They sent photons - individual particles of light - through a special mask. It changed the photons' shape - and slowed them to less than light speed.
The photons remained travelling at the lower speed even when they returned to free space.

Since they can slow down light by changing its shape - can they speed up light by making different changes to it?

If so, that photon would be a TACHYON.

A Telephone to the past?

-T
 

Elvis Onwumere

New Member
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1
very interesting indeed,could they also make photons physical,by let's say passing it through an energized gas creating tri photonic molecules and configuring those molecules to attain special properties that could aid in bending the 4th dimension or creating weapons
 

Kairos

Senior Member
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1,103
No. The speed of light as a constant derives from zero mass particles.

Also, we have no evidence that tachyons exist.
 

Num7

Administrator
Staff
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12,376
What happens if you move faster than light, and emit light? How fast will it go? Considering it's possible to go faster than light, of course.
 

Kairos

Senior Member
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1,103
It's not possible to go faster than the speed of light if special relativity is even remotely close to correct. If you could travel faster than light, the universe would be a completely different place from what we understand, so all speculation is out. You might as well say the light you emit turns into unicorns dancing on rainbows at that point.

Maybe the words are confusing here. By travel, I mean travel at a velocity faster than the speed of light constant. Maybe it's possible to travel from one point in the universe to another point faster than light would take to travel that distance across space.

But in the context of this thread.. just no.
 

Treversal

Member
Messages
408
No. The speed of light as a constant derives from zero mass particles.

Also, we have no evidence that tachyons exist.
Actually, the electrons would be traveling FASTER than photons in that medium and isn't that the very definition of a Tachyon?
 

Treversal

Member
Messages
408
It's not possible to go faster than the speed of light if special relativity is even remotely close to correct. If you could travel faster than light, the universe would be a completely different place from what we understand, so all speculation is out. You might as well say the light you emit turns into unicorns dancing on rainbows at that point.

Maybe the words are confusing here. By travel, I mean travel at a velocity faster than the speed of light constant. Maybe it's possible to travel from one point in the universe to another point faster than light would take to travel that distance across space.

But in the context of this thread.. just no.
If you could make space itself travel at FTL speeds and you rode inside of that wave would that break the law of a universal speed limit for mass?
 

Kairos

Senior Member
Messages
1,103
If you could make space itself travel at FTL speeds and you rode inside of that wave would that break the law of a universal speed limit for mass?


I feel like I am arguing against Star Trek fan fiction.

How does "space itself" travel at FTL speeds?
 

Kairos

Senior Member
Messages
1,103
Actually, the electrons would be traveling FASTER than photons in that medium and isn't that the very definition of a Tachyon?


No. The idea of a tachyon is something that travels faster than the constant (c) in the theory of special relativity.
 

Treversal

Member
Messages
408
No. The idea of a tachyon is something that travels faster than the constant (c) in the theory of special relativity.
Tachyon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A tachyon (/ˈtækiɒn/) or tachyonic particle is a hypothetical particle that always travels faster than light.
 

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